


I'm in the Mood for Love

by notgeorgelucas



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Humor, sweet sweet bison love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 02:16:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5565298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notgeorgelucas/pseuds/notgeorgelucas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the moment is right, a bison's gotta do what a bison's gotta do...even if he's being pursued by Azula and her partners.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm in the Mood for Love

_This is an amateur, non-commercial story, which is not produced, approved of, or in any way sponsored by the holders of the trademarks/copyrights from which this work is derived, nor is it intended to infringe on the rights of these holders. And so it goes._

 

Aang and his friends knew all too well how fate and fortune could shift within a heartbeat. For example, one moment they could be soaring along the skies on the Avatar’s sky bison, and in the next they could find themselves clinging desperately to whatever was available as Appa made an impossibly sharp right turn and plunged toward some unknown destination.

“aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAANNNG!” Sokka screamed as he hung onto the saddle for dear life. “WHAT’S GOING ON????”

“I don’t know!” Aang shouted back as he tugged desperately on Appa’s reins. “I can’t get him back under control! Hang on!”  The Avatar continued to beg, plead, cajole, demand, and scream at his sky bison, who utterly ignored the din and continued full speed ahead. Katara spared one glance at the blurry landscape so very far away and immediately regretted it.

“AND YOU WONDER WHY I HATE RIDING THIS THING?” Toph yelled, her fingers digging deep into Appa’s fur.

“Appa! Come on boy, yip yieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…” Aang squinted ahead as the winds slammed into his face. There was no use attempting to regain control of his buddy. The best he and the others could do would be to ride it out.

 Assuming they survived, of course.

****

Several miles back, the official Avatar Pursuit Party halted. “Well?” Azula snapped, halting her mongoose lizard with a sharp tug of the reins.

“That’s weird.” Ty Lee said, lowering the spyglass and staring at it suspiciously.

“Don’t tell me you’ve lost them again. I knew I should have kept that thing for myself.”

“She’s got better eyesight than you,” Mai noted from a healthy distance away. “Plus, she doesn’t throw it into the grass or try to set it on fire whenever she gets frustrated by what she sees…or doesn’t see.”

Azula’s glare could have set the very air ablaze. “So what happened, Ty Lee?”

“Well, based on our current location and their relevant position in the sky, I’d say they were a few miles ahead, but there seems to have been a sudden lurch in their course. That furry monster kind of did a barrel roll to the right and…poof! They were gone.” Ty Lee shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe there’s something nasty ahead,” Mai suggested. “Bounty hunters, earthbender gangs…”

“Zuko?” Ty Lee said brightly. Mai blushed furiously and fell silent.

“I doubt it,” Azula said. “Zuzu is probably halfway to the Southern Air Temple at the moment. He never was good at following directions.” She considered the situation. “All right. We continue for five miles then turn right. As we get closer, Ty Lee, keep a periodic watch. Sooner or later they’ll have to go skyward again.”

*****

“WE’RE GONNA DIE WE’RE GONNA DIE WE’RE GONNA DIE!”

“Not helping, Sokka!” Katara snapped at her brother. “Aang, isn’t there anything we can do?”

“I don’t get it!” the Avatar yelled back. “Appa never acts like this!”

Toph’s nose wrinkled. “Hey, what’s that smell?”

“What smell?” Katara asked.

“Can’t you smell it? I don’t think Appa’s putting it out—it kind of stinks like him, but, I don’t know, muskier or something!” Toph winced. “I’m gonna puke in a minute if it keeps up.”

“Oh wow!” Aang’s words brought the endangered crew to full attention. “Oh wow…”

“What is it?” Katara demanded.

“I think I know what’s going on! Look!”

Sokka leaned over Aang’s shoulder. “Hey, down there. Isn’t that…?”

“Yeah, it’s another sky bison,” Aang said happily.

“So?”

“I think it’s a girl bison! Wow! I guess Appa isn’t the only sky bison after all!”

“Well, he sure won’t be after this!” Sokka groaned.

****

“And here’s where I think we should turn,” Ty Lee announced.

“Oh, that’s great. Straight into that dense forest. Perfect.” Mai sighed deeply, wishing she was back in Omashu, in Ba Sing Se…anywhere but here.

Azula smiled and raised her hands. “Don’t worry. It won’t be dense for long. Actually, it won’t be a forest for long, either.” Blue fire shot from her palms.

Mai ‘s shoulders sagged. “And if you do that, we’re going to have to ride in the middle of a huge forest fire with next to no visibility and flames everywhere. Maybe you’re fine with that, but count me out. Smoke inhalation is not my thing.”

“Hey, it might smoke them out!” Ty Lee said brightly, then laughed. “’Smoke them out’! Get it?”

Azula sighed and let her flames die out. “No. Much as I hate to admit it, Mai has a point. Let’s continue forward until we reach a suitable clearing. From there we’ll simply wait until they emerge again.”

*****

“Yeah…owww!  I think you were right, Aang! Definitely…oof!... a lady bison!” Sokka struggled to keep his grip on Appa’s fur as the creature bucked violently back and forth, roaring his mating call to the skies.

“Hey, that sounds just like you did the other night, Sokka!” Toph yelled. “You know, when you thought we were all asleep!”

“Shut up, Toph!”

The female sky bison cut loose with a few roars as well. “And that sounds just Katara did down by the lake yesterday afternoon when she thought she was all alone!”

“SHUT UP, TOPH!”

“Wuh-wuh-well, look at the bright side!” Aang screamed from Appa’s head.

“WHAT BRIGHT SIDE?” Sokka yelled back.

“At least we weren’t on HER when this started!”

*****

Ten minutes later…or, if one were riding Appa at the time, a seeming eternity…it was over. The female bison floated unsteadily away. Appa for his part was on the ground lying on his side and snoring very contentedly. “I don’t think we’re going anywhere for a while,” Aang commented, giving his buddy a pat on the head. “Maybe we should just make camp and head out in the morning.”

“I don’t know,” Sokka said, shaking his head. “For all we know, Azula and her gang might be breathing down our necks.”

“They aren’t,” Toph assured him. “And trust me, I’d know. I can feel those lizards a mile or two away.”

“See? Everything worked out fine!” Aang said brightly. “And isn’t it great that Appa’s got a girlfriend?”

Katara raised an eyebrow. “Aang, I don’t think that this means they’re an item.”

“Aww, c’mon, Katara! Be positive! And just think—maybe there’ll be little sky bison out of this!”

“Yes, and as per usual, the female will have to care for them all by herself while the male…” Katara glared at the somnambulant Appa. “Whatever. Let’s make camp and find something to eat.” She snatched her bedroll from the saddle and furiously set to work.

“I don’t get it. What’s wrong with her?” Aang asked, mystified.

Sokka put an arm around the Avatar’s shoulders. “Let me put it this way. Should we actually survive all this, and you and Katara end up together…you might want to remember today when your first kid is born.”

*****

“Ty Lee! Give me that spy glass!” Azula demanded, lunging forward and grabbing the instrument. “Look over there! It’s that sky bison, heading east! They’re making a break for it! Saddle up and follow them!”

“But when I looked, I didn’t see any…” Ty Lee started, but Azula was already thirty yards ahead. “There wasn’t anyone on it. I swear there wasn’t,” she pleaded to Mai. “What do we do?”

“You want to tell her she’s wrong?” Mai shrugged and took her lizard’s reins. “Come on. Let’s follow along like always. It’s easier that way.” She coaxed her mount into action. Ty Lee frowned, glanced to the west, then sighed and followed suit.

**Author's Note:**

> Why no, I have no shame. Why do you ask?


End file.
